Bible Biographies: Actors in the Drama
Called
Planet Earth
The Bible is the Word of God, the inspired account of the Lord's rescue
of fallen humanity. It's a book about God, humankind, and especially about
God's intervention with humankind. From the Genesis narrative of Eden
Lost to Revelation's promise of Eden Restored, the plan of redemption
unfolds through the lives of people.
Birthed full-grown into the Garden, Adam and Eve, through sin, lost their
perfect environment. Were it not for the promise of salvation, they and their
descendants would have existed with no hope of anything beyond the grave,
which is no hope at all. Instead, through Christ and the promises fulfilled in Him,
these fallen beings have the hope and assurance of eternal life in a world without
sin and all its terrible consequences. They are, in a real sense, "children of the
promise" found in Jesus and the salvation He has secured for us (Rom. 9:8).
Who are these children, and how have they responded to this promise of
salvation? Saints, sinners, slaves, sovereigns, princes, paupers, pagans, even
prophets—that's who they are. Lovely or loathsome, major or minor, coura-
geous or cowardly, they and their stories are all included in the Bible.
Through sixty-six books that cover everything from the fall of Lucifer to
life on the new earth, the Bible introduces its readers to just a few hundred
characters out of possible millions. Some get scant treatment; others are
fleshed out in considerable detail. Joseph, for instance, merits twenty-one
chapters (Genesis 30 to 50); Job's wife, in contrast, gets only two
verses
(Job 2:9, 10). Yet, lessons exist for us from them all.
Of necessity, the Bible personalities selected for this quarter's study must
likewise be a sampling: The characters were chosen because they could
(sometimes) be paired with others who under comparable circumstances or in
similar relationships made different choices, choices not unlike those that we,
living on the same planet, often make.
They, like us, are all part of the drama, the last act even now building
toward a spectacular climax. But no need for fearful suspense—the Bible
tells how the play will end. However, and most importantly, individual
destinies, including our own, await the final resolution.
Because the last curtain has not yet gone down, because we still act out
our unscripted roles in the play ourselves, because we still can choose Christ
or Satan, these lessons invite us all (1) to review the lives of the selected
Bible personalities, (2) to analyze the reasons for their successes and fail-
ures, (3) to assess our role in the great controversy, and then (4) to apply
what we learn to strengthen our own relationship with Jesus, who through
His life and death has given us redemption.
"Now these things happened to them as a warning, but they were written
down for our instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has come" (1 Cor.
10:11, RSV).
Though our lives are not recorded in Scripture, we are all characters in
the same drama as those whose lives are revealed in the Book. Let us learn
from both their triumphs and their failures. Because, in many ways, their
stories are ours as well.
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